This morning on the Today Show they are discussing a new report out that demonstrates people viewing Obama as the riskier candidate over McCain. For some reason in the news, they are painting risk as a negative attribute. I found that fascinating. In business, we know, that where there is no risk–there is no growth. In fact, where there is no risk, there is often no leadership at all. Simply working to appease everyone does not lead to growth and advancement. Boards of Directors don’t hire CEOs as puppets, and I don’t expect we’ll be voting for a President that we prefer to flat-line through his White House residency. Give me someone who will provide higher highs and trust that I’m willing to risk the lower lows to get there. Great victory only comes from the willingness to make tough decisions because you believe they are the right choice, not the popular one. In business and in politics, risk is an attribute.

Teleclasses

AQ Community Call

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 7:00 PM
Abundant Leadership:
Building a Company of Joy
A Conversation with Bea Fields

Join us for a very special AQ Community Call with author and executive coach, Bea Fields. Leadership can be a lonely, stress-filled and chaotic environment or it can be a joyous, magical, and welcoming adventure. How a leader approaches his/her role will ultimately determine the entire culture of the company and a little intentionality here can go a long way. In this call, Bea and Kim will explore three Critical Leadership Skills: Vulnerability, Unrest, and Command Skills. Learn how AQ connects with visionary leadership to produce results.

Bridgeline: 712-421-8139 access code 5769#

All times Eastern.

You do not have to have a book, but you do have to have a remarkable product to introduce your business to your customers on a massive scale.  A BOOK can certainly do the trick.

I believe that with so much information available in the world today, you have to do TWO things.

Number One: You have to develop a genius product that engages people in an experience. Our company currently does that with books, but we could just as easily do that with a graphic novel on management, a song about sales, a screenplay on leadership. Whatever it is – it has to have a real brilliance about it! That’s number one!

Number TWO: you have to create positive emotional anticipation around that product.

Let me discuss the development first. I’ll use Edge! A Leadership Story and our client Bea Fields as an example. When Bea came to us to write a book with her, she knew she needed to do something that would make her a pioneer. She needed to elevate her game.

She did that, NOT by regurgitating old information to some ghostwriter, and NOT by creating a simple how-to book.

How did she do it? By stretching out of her own comfort zone and collaborating with other creative experts to deliver her new message in a new way. She told a story. Not a parable like other business books. A full, character driven, intimate portrayal of her average client and what they experience by engaging in her provocative coaching services.

She developed a truly innovative product. And how was that arrived at? Over more than a year, we ground her up and challenged her every motivation, every one of her principles, who she thought her demographic was, what her core values were, how she could better her client, and on and on. And now after she engaged in that year long process of discovery, only two weeks after the book has been released, here she was last night with over 300 people on a conference call. Why were people listening? Not because she did what she had done before. NOT because she did what others had done before. Because she stretched.

So Number ONE is create a truly innovative way of communicating with your audience.

My second point is in relation to navigating the marketplace. Once you have created that pioneering product, you have to then go out and create what I call positive emotional anticipation.

What happens when you know you want to see a movie in the theater? You see a trailer…maybe you hear an actor on the morning news or the late show…another actor hosts Saturday night live…reviewers tell you they loved it…you have an expectation before you go into that theater. And often, that expectation is incredibly high.

CONSIDERING that you have created that truly innovative, genius product…if you can create that positive emotional anticipation that people feel when going to the movies, people will have that super high expectation before they even engage in your message. And then you’ve got them.

Because what do we all do when our expectations are exceeded? We leave that theater and we tell everyone they have to go and see that movie. We go for coffee and chat about it. We get online and post it on our facebook accounts. This is how the best-selling books of the future will be created.

Through Genius Products and marketing and PR that create positive emotional anticipation.

EDGE! A Leadership Story has both. If you have not read the book yet, I guarantee that you can feel the positive emotional anticipation around this story through this blog alone, but check out “Edge! A Leadership Story” on Google and you’ll see what I mean. If you are moved and excited by all the momentum around the book, and you pick up a copy, reading it will blow your expectations out of the water.

Create the Product that delivers the experience. Then Create the Anticipation. When the two meet and both deliver, a home run occurs.

I happen to be heavily involved in a book about followership as it pertains to leadership and one of the principles we’ve been discussing lately is that those in the followership role have an obligation to step forward and challenge the leader when necessary. This line of thinking spurred an exceptional vision call that I had with our team last Friday that centered around them challenging me more. Often times I have felt like my team is reluctant to challenge me because I am the boss, because I sign the checks. And while I would love to say that I have all the answers, I simply don’t.  I’m really making this up as I go. Aren’t we all???

The analogy I used to help my team to better understand my position was another film analogy.  Something I learned as a filmmaker is that if a director is dictatorial in nature, he creates a product that is only as good as himself. But if a director works to serve and nurture the department heads around him, they will take care of his film and create a product that is truly exceptional and complex; and ultimately far more incredible than anything the director could have accomplished on his own.

When I challenged my team to come forward and tell me what I was doing to get in their way, we found that a common issue among a few of them was micromanagement–feeling like I was over their shoulder. Simply having the conversation allowed me to invite them to challenge me in the moment the next time I was behaving in such ways with each of them.  Everyone feels things like this differently and this will give them an opportunity to help me to help each of them specifically.

Ultimately what I needed to do was give them permission to step into that leadership role and ask for what they need to do their jobs better and enjoy their time more. They needed an invitation. Some might say that they should have taken the initiative themselves, and I certainly would have respected it if they had; however, such issues are complex for employees and it takes time to build a certain level of trust and comfortability. Some of my staff have been with me for three years now and they understand that this company is like my child, and they respect that; so it is not that they feared for their jobs as much as the dialogue that they were having in their heads was that I had the right to behave in such a way.  It took me inviting the criticism to help them to understand their role in the system.  I want this company to be a machine that is created by all of these talented people pushing for what they feel is most important. That only happens when there is an environment where pushing back is acceptable, appreciated, and rewarded.  Consider your environment and whether or not you are leading your company to be as good as you alone can be, or as great as it can be with the exponential benefit of the greatest assets of each and every member of your staff.

Being in business today is tough, and the competition is fierce. Every day, I talk to corporate leaders who feel like they are stuck and swimming against a very strong current while their competitors are beating the pants off them at each and every turn. So much so that many leaders say they don’t want to get out of bed in the morning. Their reason for being a leader or opening a business years ago has faded and there seems there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

When asking the above question of a marketing guru, he or she may come back to you with some “band-aids” such as “Lower your price” or “Stand out more in the marketplace” or “Offer a special event” and so forth. Yet the main reason I see leaders lose their inspiration is because they are solving the easy issues and not tackling the big problems in their organizations. They shuffle papers or answer e-mails or hold a meeting, because those things are easy to do and they give a false sense of accomplishment. Anyone can do these tasks, because they are easy. It’s a true leader who can take a big problem and really tackle it.

Two years ago, I began working with a company on a very big challenge: getting the right managers in place and getting them trained up to a higher level of leadership. Sounds easy? Right? Well, here we are two years later, and we are still working on it, and it’s not easy work. It takes grind and grit. It takes coaching and mentoring. It takes giving feedback, both positive and negative. And it takes letting people go who just can’t cut it. This process is not only about developing people. It’s about changing a culture to a true coaching culture and sticking with it. The results have been tremendous, and we still have so much work ahead. I have felt the emotion of my client. I am there with him, working it out and supporting him every step of the way, because he is the real thing. He’s got what it takes to be a leader. He takes a big problem, and he embraces it and goes for it, and guess what? He’s inspired! Each time he experiences a success with a manager, he lights up the room, because he cares for the people on his team, and he wants the best for them.  He finds inspiration in watching other people succeed!  (And folks, that is what leadership is all about…if you are a leader, then the success of other people should be your main goal.)

When taking on a big problem, the key is to create a game plan and play the problem almost like you would play a game (and I don’t mean to diminish the importance of big problems.) The key here is that if you see problems as overwhelming and unable to be fixed, they will continue to fester, and your competition will walk all over you. BUT, if you take the big problem, sit down with the people you most trust and create a plan to solve it, you will find renewed optimism in your business, community or organization. Trust me, with the correct plan and the right people in place, you can find pleasure in solving the biggest challenge you have ever faced.

So, your time is here and now. Face the music, and face it boldly. You will be so happy that you did.

In the book, EDGE! A Leadership Story, we address several big problems and a major leadership crisis and show you how a superstar leader addresses them. The book will be on sale on July 1, 2008. We thank you for your support and encourage you to pick up a copy of the book on Tuesday, July 1.

How do you stay inspired when your business is struggling or your competition is beating the pants off you? Leave a comment below. We would love to hear from you!